Folding guardrail for railway cars



July 4, 1939. J. .1. M BRIDE 2,164,536

FOLDING GUARDRAIL FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed May 20, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet l rhd ATTORNEY July 4, 1939. J, McBRlDE 2,164,586

FOLDING GUARDRAIL FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed May 20, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Jbm J M Bride ATTORNEY July 4, 1939. J. J. M BRIDE 2,164,586 i FOLDING GUARDRAIL FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed May 20, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEY Patented July 4, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE American Car and Foundry Company, New

York, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application May 20, 1937, Serial No. 143,692

7 Claims.

This invention relates generally to railway cars and in particular to the so-called flat car type in which folding guard rails or sides are used. Previously cars have been built with stake pockets in which stakes or posts were inserted and individually removable or foldable to a position clearing the car floor, but these previous constructions have not been satisfactory in service. It is an object, therefore, of this invention to provide a folding guard rail which when in operative position extends from end to end of the car and is rigidly held in position.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a guard rail extending from end to end of the car yet which may be readily separated into a plurality of short sections to more readily permit folding thereof.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a folding guard rail and positive locking means for securing the rail in operative position.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art from a study of the following description and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an elevational view of substantially one-half the car and with the necessary portions broken away;

Fig. 2 is a sectional View taken substantially on line 2-2 of Figure 1 and showing one-half of the car;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view similar to Figure 2 but showing the improved guard rail arrangement in detail;

Fig. 4 is a side View showing in detail the arrangement in Figure 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 5-5 of Figure 3;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 66 of Figure 3;

Fig. '7 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 3 but showing a modification;

Fig. 8 is a side view of the modification shown in Figure 7, and

Fig. 9 is a sectional view taken substantially on line 99 of Figure 7.

Referring now to the drawings in detail, it is seen that the improved guard rail has been illustrated as applied to a multiple unit tank car such as shown in Willoughby Patent 1,876,190. The underframing of such cars are of substantially conventional form consisting of center sills 2, stub side sills 4 joined by cross bearers 6, all of which support a suitable floor upon which the tanks or lading may be supported. In the present instance the tanks 8 are shown, the ends of which are spaced from the car sides permitting the application of a running board I0. With such construction it is necessary in order to comply with safety regulations to attach a guard rail to the side of the car and since it is necessary to remove the tanks, this may be more rapidly done by permitting folding of the guard rail. As shown in Figure 1 the guard rail is composed of a plurality of sections, two of which are shown and each of these sections consists of a plurality of vertical stakes I 2 joined by horizontal top rails l6 through suitable connections IS. The adjacent sections are separately hinged at the bottom by means later to be described and are joined together at the top by means of a U-shaped latch member l8 pivotally connected to one of the sections as at l9 and adapted to overlie the next adjacent section as clearly shown in Figures 1, 3, 4 and 8.

In the construction shown by Figures 1 to 6 inclusive each of the bottom hinging arrangements at the ends of the cross bearers is constructed as follows: A plurality of angle members 20 are rigidly secured to the cross bearers and extend outwardly therefrom to receive inner hinge plate 22 and outer hinge plate 24. In the majority of cases there will be a single hinge element at each angle bracket but where the break occurs between guard rail sections there will be' two sets of hinge members one on either side of the angle member as shown clearly in Figure 5. The hinge plate 24 is curved outwardly and forwardly in order to provide a space to receive the vertical posts between the hinge plates and each of these hinge plates has the forward edge curved outwardly as at 26 to guide the vertical posts into position. Pivot pin 28 extends between the hinge plates and has pivotally mounted thereon a hinge butt element 30 which in the instance shown is formed as a casting with parts thereof extending within the vertical post and rigidly secured thereto. The hinge arrangement at the stub side sills is identical with that just described with the exception that the hinge plates are shorter and the angle plate is modified and attached directly to the web of the side sill as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 2. Each of the hinge plates has a latching notch or groove 32 formed in the upper surface thereof adjacent the forward edge and immediately above the curved guiding face.

Each of the vertical posts has attached thereto a latch carrying element 34 rigidly secured to the post at points spaced upwardly of the hinge butt. The latch carrying element is formed to encircle the post and is provided with fiat outer face portions adapted to receive the latching members. One of the securing means extends outwardly through the uppermost flat face and has a locking dog 36 pivotally carried thereby and provided with the usual operating knob 38. The lower flat face is extended to provide a rectangular groove in which the latching member 40 may slide and will slidably be retained in its position by means of pin 42 extended into slot 44 of the latch casting. The latch itself is of general inverted T- formation having the leg thereof slidably carried in the latch carrying element 3 while the head portion is beveled as at 46 to assist in raising the latch; it being understood that the head portion of the latch is of sufficient length to engage within the slots 32 of the latch plates. Projections are formed adjacent the lower end of the latch with the inner projection 48 having its inner face curved concentric with the vertical stake and the outer projection 50 formed substantially cylindrical and serving as a knob by means of which the latch may be manually raised to release position.

In order to operate the guard rail as just de* scribed and assuming the rail to be in the upright locked position,.it will be necessary for the operator to first release the catches l8, thus isolating the sections after which the locking dogs will be rotated out of engagement with the latches and the various latches of the isolated section lifted vertically out of engagement with the latch plates. With the parts in this position the desired portion of the guard rail may be folded to its lower position as indicated by line and dash in Figure 2. .In returning the guard rail to its operative position it is only necessary that it be raised upward causing the latch head portions of the various latches to ride along the curved upper face of the latch plates until such time as they may drop. automatically into the locking notch formed on the upper surface of the plates, after which the locking dogs may be rotated to their operative position, thus securely locking the rail against accidental folding.

In the modification shown by Figures '7, 8 and '9 the guard rail and hinge plate arrangement is substantially the same as that previously explained and, therefore, wherever possible the same numerals have been used. In this modification the hinge pin 60 is shown as welded in position as at 52 and extending outwardly from the outer hinge plate in order that it may serve as a stop for the swinging latch 64 which is ihinged at its upper end to latch casting 6% upon a .pin 68 which also holds the latch casting rigid with respect to the vertical stakes. The latch casting is of general annular formation and formed on its lower and outer face with an extended lip portion 10 of sufficient width to fully engage within the locking notch of the hinge plates. In order to permit unlocking of the stake i'tis necessary in this case to form the hinge butt casting with an elongated slot 32 which will perunit the stake to be lifted vertically as will be clear from a study of Figure 7. The operation of this form is as follows and assuming the parts to be in the position as shown in Figs. 7 and 8: The latch 64 will be thrown outwardly and upwardly preferably to a position in which it will rest upon the running board, after which the :guard rail section will be lifted vertically thus bringing the locking lip 10 out of the locking notches on the hinge plates, after which the entire "section will be free to rotate outwardly and downwardly. In returning the section to its operative position, the reverse of the above described operation will be necessary but it is to be noted that in returning the section that the lip l0 will ride along the edge of the hinge plates until such time as it may automatically drop into the retaining notches of the hinge plates. In connection with this modification it should be noted that even though the lips of the locking casting should be broken, still the guard rail would not fall to its inoperative position since in its operative position the hinge butt casting extends a sufiicient distance below the pivot pins to prevent such movement.

While the invention has been described more or less in detail, it is obvious that various modifications thereof will become apparent to persons skilled in the art and all such modifications are contemplated as fall within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A folding guard rail for railway cars, comprising a plurality of pairs of hinge plates secured to the car, pivot pins connecting the plates, hinge butts mounted on the pins between the plates forming each pair of hinge plates and each supporting a rail stake, said butts being slotted to permit vertical shifting thereof relative to the pivot pins, top rails joining the adjacent rail stakes, and locking means rigidly secured to each stake and engageable with the respective pair of hinge plates to retain the stake in a substantially vertical position, said slots permitting vertical shifting of the rail whereby the locking means will be disengaged from the hinge plates.

2. A folding guard rail for railway cars, comprising a plurality of pairs of hinge plates secured to the car, pivot pins connecting the plates, hinge butts mounted on the pins between the plates forming each pair of hinge plates and each supporting a rail stake, said butts being slotted to permit vertical shifting thereof relative to the pivot pins, top rails joining the adjacent rail stakes, locking means rigidly secured to each stake and engageable with the respective pair of hinge plates to retain the stake in a substantially vertical position, said slots permitting vertical shifting of the rail whereby the locking means will be disengaged from the hinge plates,

and retaining means engageable with said pivot pins for retaining the locking means in engagement with the hinge plates.

3. A folding guard rail for railway cars, comprising a plurality of sections each consisting of a plurality of stakes rigidly joined together by top w rails, hinging means connecting each section to the car underframe, locking means at the lower portions of said stakes arranged to releasably cooperate with the hinging means to retain the sections in upright, position, and locking means joining the adjacent sections together thereby forming substantially a car length guard rail.

l. A folding guard rail for railway cars, comprising a plurality of sections each consisting of a plurality of stakes joined together by top rails,

Iii)

5. A folding guard rail for railway cars, comprising a plurality of sections each consisting of a plurality of stakes joined together by top rails, hinging means connecting each section to the car to fold outwardly and downwardly, locking means automatically engageable with the hinging means during the raising of the section to upright position for retaining each stake of each section in an upright position, and additional locking means joining the adjacent sections together at their upper portions thereby forming substantially a car length guard rail.

6. A folding guard rail for railway cars, comprising a plurality of sections each consisting of a plurality of stakes joined together by top rails, hinging means connecting each section to the car to fold outwardly and downwardly, locking means automatically engageable with the hinging means during the raising of the section to upright position for retaining each stake in an upright position, locking means joining the adjacent sections together thereby forming substantially a car length guard rail, and retaining means locking said first named locking means in the stake retaining position.

7. A folding side stake assembly for railway cars comprising, a stake, hinge plates secured.

to the car and supporting a pivot pin, a hinge butt secured to the stake and pivotally mounted on the pivot pin, a latch member rigidly secured to the stake and engageable with the hinge plates to retain the stake in a vertical posistion, said hinge butt being vertically slotted to permit vertical shifting of the stake whereby the latch may be disengaged from the hinge plates, and looking means engageable with the car to prevent vertical movement of the stake and latch member.

JOHN J. MCBRIDE. 

